Indicating device for displaying variable information



Aixg. 26, 1952 A R JACKSON y 2,608,012

ug- 426, 1952* A. R, JACKSON 2,608,012

INDICATING DEVICE FOR DISPLYING VARIABIS INFORMATION Filed OCT.. 21, 1947 l 3 SheeiS-.S'neet 2 5 /N VENTR Aug. 26, 1952 Y' A. R. JACKSON 2,608,012

' INDICATING DEvcEFoR DISPLAYING VARIABLE INsoRMA'L-LION Filed oct. 21, 1947 s s'ng'ems-sheez s .ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 26, 1952 INDICATING DEVICE ronl DISPLAYING VARIABLE INFoRrnrr-IoNr l Arthur Rex Jackson, London, England.. assigner toy Remington Rand Inc, New yorleN. Y., a

corporation of Delaware Application October 21, 1947-,l Serial? No. l781,198Y

In Great Britain October 23, 1946V f 4; Claims. (Cl. 40-12-4) Theinvention relates. toy a device for display-'- ing variable information of the kind in. which cards or the. like indicators aremounted in carriers. adapted to` slide along a bank of parallel horizontal guidesv secured to` a. support and a horizontal'scale .marked in time or other units is provided Vsdthat. the. relationship. between the items represented by the card or the. like and the. units. of the. scale can be` read; offL Such devices are. described, for examplain British Letters Pat;-` ent Number 449,015.. y

The devices as, at present constructed are, most commonlyv used for showing the state. of work in a machine shop, each carrier being allocated. to one" machine.. A card strip, isv made. out for each job. to. be. done bya machine.. being out to a. length corresponding tothe estimated number of hours.` Charingl which the machineA willy be. occupied. bythe job, and the. various card strips for each machine are put. end to end in .the appropriateV order-in the carrier allocated to. that machine. If the work doesY not proceed according to schedule the. carrier is: slid in relation: to the time. scale toan extent. corresponding to thev departure from schedule. so` that the. state-of the. work in4 progress can be seenlat anytime..

In theexisting. devices, and as shown. in British Letters. Patent; No.. 4.49.0115,` the. carriers. are bent strips offmetal.. channel-shaped alongy their lower edges..` and they slidefin. xed guides which form partv ci; the frame or panel and which are stripsosheet metal; with inturned upper and lower edgesthat is to, say, are substantiallyl of C-Shape. in cross-section. These guides are arranged one aboveancther, each being incontact or nearly in contact with the two guides respectively above and below it. To retain the card strips in the carriers the channels. in the carriers mustbe deep- Now the visible part of each card strip is the onlyl one of value for displaying information so in effect. the area of the frame taken up by the, parts.' of thez cards hidden by.l the. channels of the car;- rers and by the partsv of the xed guides extending above and` below the carriers. within them is ini-usedand: wasted..

- Ita-is an object ottheinvention to provide a device in which this disadvantage is overcome by overlapping the card strips and carriers in such a way that the only portion of each card visible is the portion carrying the required data. In this way, more cards can be accommodated on a given vertical space. It is also an object of the invention to provide a device in which by simple interchange of one type ot card carrier for another,

the device cante used either with specially cut card strips; or; withthe ordinary job: 'ca-rds; used. in:l factories which bearthe required information along: their topedge.

In. ,accordance with the invention,y in a. device Qty the kind specified, the bank of guides. is ar ranged stepf-.wise and each guide above the bot. tom one., is formed asa trough open at the ton. the bottom of which is4 spaced awayfrom the. Sull-- port to accommodate av projection at the back of the earrierwhich slides i-n the guide below4 it.

In' this 'Way' the information is Visible.- on a.V

vertical. surface of eac-h carctbut the bank o cards yo-rrns a stepped:4 ban-k; and each. carri-e1;V slides; in the trough` of one guide and is retained; rigid by' engagement; or its.; flange behind the. trough of the guide above it. While for con:-L venience the .bottoni guide. may. beof identical form andidenticalfly mounted with the. remains, ing guides,.it. is. not necessary KYfor the. proper functioning of' the device. to step theI trough arves? V from. fthesupport.

Apreferred form of the invention is illustrated the accompanying drawings. in which: i

1 is a perspective View of the devicehave ing some of lthe carriers entirely removed and others shownpartly drawn out.;

Fiefz is an enlarged perspective view of part of the device show-nin Fig. 1;'A

Fig. 3A is also-an enlarged perspectiveviewf show inga diierentform of card carrierl mounted in position;

Fig. 4 is a perspective viewI showing a cardA care rier as shown in- Figs. 1- andv 2;

Fig". 5 isa perspective view' showin'g'ja card' can: rier yas shown inf Fig. 3; and Y Fig. 6 is 'a perspective view of'Y a guide.l

Referring to Figs. 1 to 3, the support for the bank of guides comprises aplatc .I, bent to form side wiigsl Z'having out-turned flanges 35 which arefdrilled as. at 4 to accommodate screws rorxing the. device. 12o, a wall or other verticalr surf face,y Top. and bottom. plates. 5. 5." are prio-4 vided. Eabh giiwde. generally i'ndiczjated at 6.' .(se. Figs- 1 to. 3. and. 6). comprises. a. trough. or troughlike'portion. l', vone wall 8. of which'projects' be--v yond the other, the projecting wall being secured to the support I, for example, by spot welding so that the guides form a bank of horizontal troughs arranged stepwise. It will be noted that each trough is stepped out from the longer wall 8 so that when mounted upon the support I there is a space behind the trough. At the top of the device (see Fig. 1) a time or the like scale 9 is 3 mounted in guides and a cursor IB may be pro vided.

The card carrier shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 is adapted for the carrying of ordinary works job cards. I6 in which the data required to be immediately available for determining'the progress of the job is visible at the top margin, while the other data given on the card is not required for such ready reference. Thercard carrier shown comprises an element of U section II having its two edges of trough section, the trough I2 carrying the card or the like so that the U section II forms a back support for the card and the rearwardly projecting ledge I3 and up-turned flange I4 formed at the free edge thereof constituting another trough or trough-like portion which cooperates with a trough 'I in retaining the carrier in place. It will be seen from Fig. 1 that each carrier is inserted into the device with its card carrying trough I2 sliding in the trough 'l ofthe corresponding guide, whilst the upwardly turned projecting ange I4 engages behind the trough 1 of the guide next above it. The upper margins of the cards I6 are hence visible as an overlapping bank. An end tab I is provided in each'card carrier to serve as an index for the jobs shown by the cards andvit will be appreciated that cards may be readily placed in the guides or withdrawn and any card be interposed between any pair of adjacent cards in the series and, furthermore, as is customary with these devices, the whole guide may be displaced sideways in the direction of the time scale to allow for hold-ups in production, or for a speed-up in production such that the number of jobs indicated by the cards will take less than the estimated time.

The card carriers'shown in Figs. 3 and 5 are adapted for the more customary card strips 26 and in this case each card carrier comprises a trough or trough-like portion 22 at one side to receive an edge of a card or the vlike and a ledge 22 having its free edge terminating in an upwardly turned flange 24, projecting at the other side for engagement behind the trough 'I of the guide above it. It will be seen fromFig. 3 that the trough 22 of each carrier rests in the trough I of the corresponding guide and the fiange 24 projects behind the trough I of the guide above it, thus holding the carrier rigid in position, but permitting sliding movement along the guides.

The construction as shown in the figures is adapted to be made of sheet metal. The invention, however, is not limited to a sheet metal construction and other material, such for example as plastics may be substituted. Instead of a plate I the support may be formed as a framework.

I claim:

1. A device of the character described for displaying variable information, comprising a support, a bank of guides arranged step-wise on said support, each of said guides being formed with a trough portion open at the top and each of said guides above the bottom one having said trough portion spaced from said support, and a plurality of removable carriers, each carrier being slidably mounted in the trough portion of one of said guides and having a projection on its back extending into the space between the trough portion of the guide next above and said support.

2. In a device of the character described for displaying variable information', the combination of a support, a bank of guides secured to said support and arranged step-wise thereon, and a plurality of carriers removably mounted in said guides, each of said guides having a portion Vformed as a Vtrough open at the top, and each of said troughs above the bottom one being spaced outwardly from said support, each carrier being slidably supported in the trough of one of said guides and having a rearwardly extending trough portion receiving the trough of the guide next above, said trough portion on said carrier extending throughout the length of said carrier, and the free edge of said trough portion extending into the space between the trough of said latter mentioned guide and said support.

3. A device of the character described for displaying variable information, comprising a support and a bank of guides mounted on said support in stepped relationship, each of said guides having a trough portion open at the top, a plurality of carriers each of which is slidably mount-'-- ed in a respective guide trough, each of said guides above the bottom one having said trough portion spaced outwardly from said support andk means extending rearwardly from each of said carriers cooperatively engaging the adjacent higher guide to slidably retain said carriers in said guides.

4. A device of the character described for displaying variable information, comprising an inclined support and a bank of guides secured thereto and.4 arranged step-wise thereon, each of said guides having a portion formedas a trough open at the top, each of said guides above the bottom one having said trough portion spaced outwardly from said support, a plurality of carriers arranged to be individually disposed on said guides, each of said carriershaving an elongated portion formed as a U-shaped trough with upwardly directed walls, the rear wall of said trough being bent to provide an outwardly extending ledge,the outer edge of which forms an upwardly turned flange, said U-shapedcarrier trough arranged to be disposed within said guide troughl for ysliding movement therein and said carrier ledge ange arranged to cooperate with the adjacent guide to retain said carrier in displayY position. V ARTHUR REX JACKSON. l

REFERENCES CITED r'Ihe following references Vare of record inthe le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,921,202 Mungen';. -1 Aug. 8,1933 

